There's just a week to go now until the Baftas and all of us at BBC Films are excited about a record number of nominations this year. Of course in some categories our films are going to be in contention with each other, so I have to try to be impartial throughout the awards season. For example, An Education, Fish Tank and In the Loop are all competing for Outstanding ­British Film.

In the Loop had particular challenges – uncompromising, as it is, in its language and the way it was shot. Along the way, there were those – some distributors, for example – who wanted to talk to creator Armando Iannucci about changing the language. Which was always going be a non-starter. It was a case of fuckity-bye to them!

The film was quite tricky to set up and finance, because it didn't obey the rules of conventional film-making. Armando likes to cast actors early and then feed their work to the writing team of Jesse Armstrong, Tony Roche and Simon Blackwell – so there wasn't a conventional script to present to people.

My predecessor David Thompson had originally commissioned it and my colleague Paula Jalfon worked wonders in finding ways to finance it . Although the TV show The Thick of It had a strong loyal fanbase, the debate was whether we'd reach anything like a mainstream audience with the film.

I remember overhearing conversations in stores such as HMV and getting terribly excited because young people were talking about Armando's new project. It seemed that we were able to take it from that tiny but wonderful niche audience to a theatrical crowd. At the Oscars, the In the Loop writers will be competing with Nick Hornby for An Education – a very deft, charming and economical script – in the best adapted screenplay category. That's two British films out of five in one category – which says a hell of a lot about the quality of writing in the UK. And I think it's the skills of our writers that keep Americans interested in working with us.

Perhaps we overcomplicate our relationship with the States – get overly neurotic about our assumed inferior status in the relationship. I think we can be proud of what we do here, while also respecting what the Americans do and enjoy our deals with them.

Looking at the American film industry is educative and informative but let's not pretend we're going to have the same industry here. But there are all sorts of collaborations to be had with the Americans without needing to sell our culture down the river.

At one point, we had two projects in development with the working title of Special Relationship. One became In the Loop and the other, which retains the title, is Peter Morgan's new film (which we're aiming to release this summer).

Peter's film explores the relationship through the intensely political bond of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. The film's time frame goes from 1994, when New Labour was taking lessons from Clinton's people, to 1998 and the end of Kosovo. It focuses on the international activities of Blair as prime minister and what he learns from his American ally.

They're brothers in arms, but Clinton is weakened by the Lewinsky scandal in the middle of it all, while Blair strengthens his position, moving from being something of an acolyte to equal to moral superior, post-Kosovo.

I don't think the "special relationship" has ever been fresher as a topic – although I sort of wish the film was coming out next week. Peter always has a good human dramatic angle on the much larger dramas of realpolitik, and he certainly does here.

I heard the film's final score this week, composed by the amazing ­Alexandre Desplat, who we worked with on The Queen and whose CV includes the recent film A Prophet.

It's exciting to be working with HBO as it has a luminous record and has changed the industry landscape. It's very ambitious and enabling – and we've all been amused at times by how our off screen "special relationship" threatens at times to ape the on-screen version, as we negotiate the delicate balance of power in terms of editorial decisions.

I met Ralph Fiennes to celebrate the start of filming on his directorial debut this week. Ralph is directing a contemporary version of Coriolanus set in Belgrade, which the writer John Logan has adapted brilliantly.

I also managed to squeeze in a trip to see Logan's new play, Red, at the Donmar Warehouse in central London. It's just the most brilliant examination and discussion of art. Really fiery and ferocious, and Alfred Molina as Rothko and Eddie Redmayne, as his assistant, are brilliant and completely captivating.

At one point, they stand with their backs to the audience and prepare a canvas and then turn and are absolutely drenched in red paint. The dialogue is to die for – clever, witty and explosive.

I'll be interested to see Gordon Brown's interview today with Piers Morgan. From the clips released during the week, I was surprised by the ­apparent candour of the interview. Way back when we were making Peter Morgan's film The Deal, anyone close to Gordon would tell you that it's very hard for him to communicate aspects of his character.

I think it probably tells you more about where we're at in our contemporary politics. There just seems to be a need in our culture to get very personal. However, good dramatisation of politics is rarely about such bald ­statements. Instead, it's all about ­reading what's going on between the lines.

We get a lot of news, 24/7 and from all angles, but I don't know whether all this information results in people feeling better equipped to understand the decisions that are taken.

I think there's a mischievous element to drama where you can speculate a bit about the man or woman behind the news. So, in its own more elegant way, it gets to a truth which might escape a more "factual" account.

The Life

Studied English at Cambridge. Lives with partner, Christian,and two young children.

Development assistant for British Screen; script editor for Granada; moved to comedy department in 1993 and developed Cold Feet. Other TV credits include producing Bafta winner The Deal and Royal Television Society winner Dirty Filthy Love. Film credits: she co-produced Pierrepoint(2005) and The Queen (2006). As boss of BBC Films, she has been executive producer on a string of successes, including In the Loop and Fish Tank.